Protection
by IceQueenOrginal
Summary: He'd do anything for her, but at what cost?


Crap. That's all that Lady could think of at this very moment. This wasn't at all how this night supposed to go. What the hell even happened?

Lady's night actually began promising. Dante had asked her to go to dinner. They had been dating for a while now so it wasn't much of a shock but she'd be lying if she say she didn't have butterflies in her stomach. He had this effect on her. He made her laugh, smile and feeling all warm and fuzzy. That was the last thing she expected him of all people to be able to do. What can she say? She fell for him. Hard.

They were halfway out the door when the phone began to ring. Dante rolled his eyes and picked it up. There was a woman on the other line, begging that Dante clear her husband's warehouse infested with demons. Dante sighed and reluctantly agreed before slamming the phone down..

"Dammit. I'm sorry babe. Gives me an hour tops. I'll have the whole place cleared and we can…what are you doing?"

By the time he turned around, Lady had replaced her purse with her guns. "What does it look like? Getting ready for the mission."

"Lady…"

"It'll be done faster if there's two of us." Dante knew better than to argue with her. Besides, she was right. So they headed out together on Dante's bike aka how they showed the world they were together. They weren't public with affection. They never kissed in front of others, only behind closed door. They weren't ashamed, far from it. It was something special between them. No one else needed to have input in their relationship. That was the only reason.

As far as Lady knew.

Lady wrapped her arms around Dante's waist and smiled. She loved holding him. This is the closeness they both desire, deserved. Any moment she got to hold him made her so happy. The ride to jobs always seemed so short nowadays.

They walked into the warehouse. There were demons alright. Running around the warehouse, slowly growing. No doubt they had the intention of wrecking havoc through the city. They all froze and turned to face the two newcomers. This made Dante smirk. "Oh, you were expecting us. Sorry to keep you waiting"

The demons immediately reacted and jumped on the two devil hunters. They fired as fast as they could. To their horror, the demons changed form. Their bullets began to go through the demons. Dante switch to his Rebellion and Lady used the back of Kalina Ann. This worked temporarily until the demons changed again. The demon managed to separate the two hunters. Dante turned into his devil trigger form to slash through the demons to get to Lady. He turned so quickly that the demons did not have time to process the sudden change and he was able to kill some of them. However, when he got her, he saw a sight that was his downfall.

Lady had tried her best to keep the demons off of her but her weapons became useless against them so quickly for her liking. Her grenades did kill a few but she had quickly ran out of them for she underestimated how difficult this job was going to be. Luckily the demons adapted for the grenades so she got a few with her guns but as quickly as the victory came, the demons changed back. With no opinions left, Lady decided to used her athletic ability to get away from the demons. Her plan was to use Kalina Anna's grapple to get to the open elevated platform in warehouse, fire a few missiles to buy herself some time to find Dante. She figured the demons needed them apart so they could transform more easily. Sadly, as she began to be pull up by the grapple, one of the demons grabbed her leg, broke it and pulled her down. She unleashed her scream second Dante had gotten close to her. To make matters worse, the demon that had Lady was largest demon in the warehouse. Lady and Dante looked at each other for a split second before the demon lifted Lady up again and slammed her into the ground. "LADY!" She didn't respond, she didn't move, she didn't even seem to be breathing.

This completely broke Dante. Every time, every time…anytime he cares for someone, some demon takes them away. Not this time…he wasn't going to lose her…

He felt himself changing, his eyes were burning from how red they had turned. He didn't care. He knew the consequences, he was ready. Lady was able to weakly open her eyes t see Dante transform.

It wasn't like his normal Devil Trigger form. This…thing…had no resemblance to his human form, the real Dante. The Dante she…

Dante smirked evilly as he slowly placed Rebellion on his back. He roared as he grew a pair of wings and four horns. Rebellion became a tail. A dark aura covered his entire body, turning it into a huge dark demon. It took his beautiful face last. The only part that remotely resembled Dante were red cracks that broke through the dark shell. As if the real Dante was trying to break free from this hold. This was what Trish had warned her about, the Perfect Devil Trigger.

Dante quickly disconnected the demon's limp that had been holding her off from the rest of it and put her in a corner, as far away from danger as he could before going back to slaughter ever demon in the warehouse.

Lady had to stay awake, she had to stop this. She decided to remember the conversation she and Trish had had a few days prior. If she concentrated on the memory, her mind would stay awake and she could possibly figure out how to get Dante back.

Lady, Dante and Trish had returned to Devil May Cry in silence. A demon had gotten a little too close to Lady and Dante quickly killed it and the rest of the hive that had been infesting the farmhouse. Lady commented that she could handled it, she meant it more as a joke but she was also letting him know. Normally Dante would joke back at her, at most he'd gently punch her in the shoulder. This time was different. Dante turned, slowly changing back to normal. His eyes however stayed red. He stared at her, it felt wrong to her. He growled at her and walked to his bike. This pissed off Lady more and it made Trish confused. When he sat on his bike, his eyes returned to their ocean blue. He shook his head and turned to Lady to apologize.

She still kicks herself for riding of before he had a chance to explain. They ignored each other for the rest of the night, he sulking in his chair and her sulking on her bed. Trish rolled her eyes at them. She was supposed to be young, immature one. She first went to Dante and simply told him that she was going to talk to Lady. Dante pretended to not hear her and continued to sip his drink.

Trish wondered if the myth that if you roll your eyes too much caused them to get stuck was actually turn when she rolled her eyes again at Dante. She put her guns away and walked to Lady's room. She knocked twice before speaking. "Hey L? Can I come in?"

Lady reasoned in her head that she had no reason not to let Trish in. "Door's open."

Trish walked over to her and sat next to her on the bed. "Look, about the earlier…"

"You don't have to apologize for him, Trish."

"I'm not." Lady looked at her confused. Trish was glad she was because then Lady would listen to her. She had to listen to her about this. "Look Lady, you know how Dante struggles with his inner demon." Lady nodded in response, indicating she wants Trish to continue.

"Well, his demon like to use Dante's human emotions against him. To the point if he's sad enough or angry enough, the demon will easily breakthrough and take over."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because—" Trish stopped herself, this wasn't something she could tell Lady. That was up to Dante, though she highly doubted he would ever have the balls to do so. "Because you have to watch him. We all do." She added that last part to distract Lady from her pause moments before.

"What do you mean?" Lady was now concerned, there was something wrong with Dante and she has to help him. She just had to.

To be perfectly honest, Trish wasn't exactly sure either. She just had a feeling, a feeling something bad was going to happen. She paused to gather her thoughts before continuing "He choose to be human but his inner demon can also choose to takeover to the point where his humanity is gone. He will be so far that you have to get him out of it." If she wasn't worried, she would have questioned why Trish said you. She nodded in agreement with Trish, which satisfied her enough to leave, and laid awake on her bed. She didn't sleep that night.

Lady slapped her own face hard to keep herself awake. She watch Dante stand over the carnage. She watched him crawl around the room, looking for more prey. She forced herself into her bad leg which caused her to wince in pain and for him to turn around. He seemed to instantly appear next to her. He growled at her, ready to attack. Lady frowned at him and grabbed his face tightly. Dante grabbed her arms and his claws dug into her. She muffled her scream and focused on his face. She searched for his eyes, only finding glowing dots. She hoped he could see her through the blinding light. "Dante! Snap out of it!"

He roared at her, trying to frighten her away. The real Dante was battling his demon, he doesn't know what he would do if he hurt Lady. Lady wasn't one to run. "Come on Dante! I know you're in there!"

The demon paused and let go of her arms. He stared at her and growled put her name. She smiled, he was coming back to her. "Yea, it's me. Now turn back to normal. The world doesn't need another rampaging demon. They need you. The real you. I need you…come back to me." She saw a flash of blue and in an instant, the real Dante was holding her waist and hugging her. "Hey baby…"

She hugged him back, to feel him. To make sure he was back. "I thought I lost you…" Normally she would never be this vulnerable with him but it felt right. They both needed it.

"Well, you did what you do best. You found me." It was his turn to breathed her in, he needed to know that they were both okay. He swore to himself he would never turn into that again.  
After a few moments of just silently holding one another, Dante lifted her up into his arms. "Let's get you home"

"Dante…"

"Sorry about tonight…I know you hate hospitals so I'll patch you up and order some takeout."

"Dante."

"I'll take over missions from now on." He weakly chuckles to himself. "I'm sure you can make money somewhere in this city. And then—"

"DANTE!" Finally, he hears her through his millions of thoughts and pauses to give her his full attention.

"I am tired of this!"

"Of what?"

"Of you treating me like a baby!" This made him angry, is that what she really thought that is what this is?

"I am not!"

"Yes you are!"

"I already apologized for before Lady!"

"I'm not just talking about that! On every mission recently you barely let me fight any demons. Also do you think I don't notice that you try to take every missions alone now!" Dante didn't say anything to explain himself which only made her angrier. "I can take care of myself Dante! I have been for a long time!"

"I know that Lady!"

"Then why are you doing this?"

"Because I've lost everyone I have ever loved and I'll be damned if I have to add you to that list!" Both Dante and Lady froze and turned red at his words. He quickly put her down on the motorcycle and turned away from her,

"What did you say?" She wanted him to come back to her, to repeat what he said. She wanted, no needed, to know how he really felt.

Lady knew for a while how she felt about him. She couldn't pin point and exact moment where she knew but it made her afraid. As far as she knew, Dante say her as nothing more than a short fling. Sure, they went on a couple of dates but she was sure he didn't feel the same way. But here they are, he said the L-world first.

Dante refused to face her. "I said I care about you. Like a friend. Like I care about a Trish or Nero. Nothing more."

If she was any other girl, these words would crush her. They would think that he felt nothing for them and give up. But Lady wasn't any other girl. "Then say that to my face."

God, how he hated that she could see right through him. He slowly turned back to her. "I said…" Looking into her beautiful mismatched eyes, he couldn't lie to her. He walked over to her, his blue eyes seemed to glow in the dark, and gently held her hands in his. "I think I said I love you." He cracked a smile, it was his way of handling feelings. Jokes.

Lady stared at him for a while. She didn't know what to say. For the first time in her life, her mind was blank. No witty remark, no convoluted explanation, not even an insult. If she was going to tell Dante how she felt, now is the time. "Well…I think I love you too."

Lady felt relieved to get that off her chest. However, this made Dante more afraid. "You shouldn't…" He stammered "Didn't you hear what I said…? I lose everyone I love…"

"Dante, you learn a long time ago you can't get rid of me." This made him smile a bit, no wonder he loved her. He wanted, so desperately, to believe her but…he couldn't. Everywhere he turned, a demon was waiting for his blood. "Dante. I can take care of myself." Could she read minds?

"I know Lady but…there's always going to be another Mundus or Abigail or—"  
"Or Arkham but we handled him, together." They paused when his name was uttered. It brought back painful memories for the both of them but it wasn't a sacrifice Lady was willing to make. She wasn't some helpless damsel, she swore to herself she would never be after what the man she used to consider a father did. Dante knew better than to argue with her. He also knew he was right. He didn't have to worry about demons coming after Lady, she went after them. Man, could he get more paranoid?

He turned to her and smiled. "Yea, you're right Lady."

"Ah, my favorite three words."

"Oh really? Then I guess I have to change that." She laughed at his reply. For the first time tonight, she was competent relaxed. She didn't feel anymore pain, though she knew her leg needed a few weeks to completely recover. They looked at each for a brief moment before saying I love you at the same time, laughed and smiled at each other. They were starting a crazy new chapter of their life but they were ready to do so.

Maybe this night wasn't so bad.


End file.
